On May 1, the United States and China marked 33 years of science and technology cooperation at the Joint Commission Meeting on Science and Technology Cooperation in Beijing, China.

Dr. John P. Holdren, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology and Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, headed the U.S. delegation. Minister of Science and Technology Wan Gang led the Chinese delegation. The last Joint Commission Meeting was held in 2009 in Washington, D.C.

The meeting monitors the progress on ongoing scientific cooperation and identifies new areas for cooperation and is held in accordance with the U.S.-China Science and Technology Agreement. Representatives from nine U.S. Government agencies and research institutions met with their Chinese counterparts to discuss measurement science, nuclear safety, agricultural research, energy research, scientist exchanges, biodiversity research, and remote sensing for post-disaster response. There were also policy discussions on data/information sharing, the merit/peer review process, and science and technology innovation capacity building with the goal of supporting transparent, democratic, and meritocratic principles.

On May 2, 2012, Dr. Holdren and Minister Wan co-chaired a meeting of government officials, private-sector representatives, and academic experts on best practices in innovation policies. Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment Robert Hormats also participated. The topics for discussion included local-level innovation policies, industry-academic research collaboration, measuring innovation performance, and the importance of intellectual property rights protection. This is the third time the group has met. The Innovation Dialogue was established at the 2010 Strategic and Economic Dialogue.